Colorado lawmakers await dates for recall elections

DENVER—Colorado Democrats targeted for recalls because of their support for gun control remained in limbo Tuesday and were pursuing legal challenges to avoid going back to the ballot this year.

Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo, on Tuesday failed in her effort to have the recall petition against her thrown out because it was improperly worded. Democratic Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs lost an identical argument last week.

The recall wrangling isn't over, though. A Democratic lawyer filed a lawsuit Tuesday appealing the Morse decision, and an appeal from Giron supporters was imminent.

The two Democrats are mounting their challenges based on the petition format used by recall organizers.

The Democratic lawyer, Mark Grueskin, has argued that petition signers didn't know exactly what they were signing. The petitions asked whether the lawmakers should be recalled but didn't ask whether an election should be held to appoint a successor.

"A petition form must inform unsophisticated as well as sophisticated voters who are considering whether or not to sign the petition," Grueskin argued in his appeal.

Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert said in both decisions that recall elections are "a fundamental right" and that the petition questions were enough to meet the legal threshold for valid recalls.

Unless a judge steps in, the senators would face recall elections between early August and early September—the first legislative recalls in Colorado history.

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Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper must set the date. A spokeswoman said this week that the governor's office is consulting with local officials about the best date for recalls.

In El Paso County, Republicans chose former Colorado Springs City Councilman Bernie Herpin in a nonbinding straw poll Tuesday to challenge Morse if that recall election is held.

Both senators are being targeted for recalls because of their support for new gun control laws, especially an ammunition magazine limit and a measure expanding background checks. Opponents say the gun controls violate Second Amendment rights.

The gun controls sparked intense opposition during this year's legislative session, and they've brought election-year intensity to a typically ho-hum time of year in Colorado politics. A lawsuit brought by a majority of Colorado sheriffs opposed to the gun controls was due for a court hearing Wednesday.